Honor VSU With a Birthday Gift!

Published date:
March 6, 2014

Only 20 years after the Civil War, Alfred W. Harris persuaded the Virginia General Assembly to establish an institution of higher learning for Virginia’s African Americans. Harris envisioned a school with strong black leadership that would give newly-freed slaves and their children the knowledge to become full participants in democracy. On March 6, 1882, the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute became the nation’s first, state-supported, four-year institution of higher learning for Blacks.

For 132 years, Virginia State University has stood as a beacon on its hill “high above the Appomattox.” The road has not always been easy. Early on, Virginia’s political leaders resisted a school teaching college courses to African Americans. From the turbulent 1920s through the post-WWII enrollment boom, Virginia State persevered. Its students served at the forefront of American’s civil rights movement and led the call for integration.

VSU has established Alfred W. Harris VSUAA Student Tuition Assistance Fund, through which worthy students, who may need additional financial support to remain in school, can realize their dreams. With your support, all of our students can achieve the better world afforded through a VSU degree.

Alfred William Harris dreamed of a place “where all…may go and drink from the fountain of knowledge until their ambition is satiated.” With your help, our Founder’s dream can be realized!

Help our students by contributing to the Alfred W. Harris Tuition Assistance Fund by following this link, or by sending a check to the address listed below: